Blissful Days After Widowhood

    Mr. Wen took Gu Yin to the study.

    In the study, Mr. Wen learned that his father had a good appetite this day, and after eating a large bowl of noodles, he left with satisfaction.

    Mr. Wen sat on the top and pouted towards the chair below.

    Gu Yinfu thanked him, and the two talked across the table.

    "You shouldn't be offended by the previous incident."

    Mr. Wen looked at Gu Yin's expression while talking. He invited Gu Yin, of course, to repay the past.

    However, it is not uncommon since ancient times.

    If Gu Yin showed that she wanted to repay her kindness and was very dissatisfied with the status quo, Mrs. Wen would naturally not keep such a person by her side, just spend some money to send people away.

    Gu Yin's expression was magnanimous, "It was just a misunderstanding, nothing to be surprised by. Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

    The one who drove people that day was Mr. Wen Er, who was so angry that he could not vent. It had nothing to do with the old man. And because that day was delayed, she and Wang worked together to catch the little brat she was thinking of.

    Now there is a job, and the little brat has also caught it, to apply what she saw on the Internet before - everything is the best arrangement.

    As for Mrs. Wen's worry about repaying her kindness, Gu Yin didn't think there was anything worth repaying for that day - after all, if Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xu hadn't put the old man off the stage, they would have agreed with him. He quarreled, and the old man might not faint. If they didn't make up for it and gave her a job opportunity, she already had a lot of adults.

    Mr. Wen touched the goatee on his chin and nodded, "Yes."

    Gu Yin didn't know where the "good" point of the old man was, but the little old man in front of her was now her immediate boss, so she smiled back.

      With a face, the little girl is quite powerful."

    Gu Yin hurriedly said, "It's nothing great, it's just that Master Xu asked me how to make noodles, and I gave him a few pointers."

    There is an old saying that a craftsman cannot starve to death in a famine year, which is enough to see the preciousness of craftsmanship.

    At that time, people were taboo that the apprentices of the church did not have a master. Like Chef Xu, who did not have a teacher and met a serious master, it was normal that they did not succeed in middle age.

    "You direct others, are you not afraid that your master will be unhappy?"

    Gu Yin thought of her grandfather. Their ancestors were not prominent, unlike other culinary families in the future, who said that their ancestors had been royal chefs. There are more than a dozen generations in their family, all of them are ordinary people, and they have accumulated various recipes by being apprentices from all over the world.

    When her grandfather was in good health, he was very willing to take apprentices. No matter what his qualifications, as long as he wanted to learn, he was willing to teach.

    But there are too many job opportunities in future generations. The income of cooks is neither low nor high. I feel that I have enough to make a living, and I don’t want to study anymore.

    So much so that her grandfather taught apprentices for half his life, and only his son and granddaughter were left to the end.

    Gu Yin didn't understand at that time, and asked him that he had taught for half his life and did not charge tuition fees.

    Her grandfather said that if a craft is only passed down in his own family, how can it be carried forward? Moreover, if our ancestors encountered teachers who did not teach with dedication, how could there be the inheritance of our family, and the life of our family?

    Thinking of her grandfather who has been open-minded all her life, Gu Yin said with certainty, "No."

    Mr. Wen jumped down from the chair of the master teacher, pointed at her and smiled: "Okay you girl, last time I asked you about your teacher's inheritance, and you asked me to learn how to cook porridge from others? You You really lied to me!"

    Gu Yin didn't expect that Mrs. Wen was actually inquiring about this.

    "Well...I'm not lying, I did have someone pointing it out, but it's more of a recipe school."

    In her last life, when she officially started to learn to cook, her grandfather was already old, and it was not easy to guide her every day. Fumbling around with family recipes.

    The old man said you should pull it down, "I really want to say it like you, in this world, as long as people can read and practice, they will produce good skills."

    Gu Yin did not argue with him, but only said seriously: "I didn't lie to you this time."

    Mr. Wen is stubborn.

    He has a large collection of books in his study, and even has a collection of food lists.

    Mr. Wen took out a copy and flipped through it, pointed it to Gu Yin and said, "Then you can do it like this."

      Its sweetness is neither honey nor sugar, and it can be temporary or long. ①

    Although Gu Yin has never done this, she has written the materials very clearly with only a few words in front of her.

    So she nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll give it a try."

    Mr. Wen looked strange, and immediately followed her to the big kitchen.

    In the big kitchen, Master Xu was talking to two young apprentices with a bitter face.

    The little apprentice frowned when he saw his fat face, so he persuaded: "Master has followed the second master for many years, and there is some affection in the end. I'm really afraid of being let down by the old master, Why don't you go and beg the second master."

      "

    Master Xu knocked them a burst of chestnuts by himself, "You guys know shit! I'm not worried about myself, I'm worried about the little master! You two are lucky, you meet me, you are willing to teach everything To you. I have never met such a young master who is willing to teach outsiders at my age. What a good person! If I were twenty years younger, I would be willing to kowtow to tea and recognize her as a master! Such a good person, Being opened like this... can't I feel bad?"

    While talking, Gu Yin came back.

    Master Xu quickly stepped forward and asked: "How is the little master? What did the old man say? Did you not let you do it?"

    Gu Yin pursed her lips, "It's alright, the old man didn't embarrass me."

    Master Xu was about to take a long breath when he saw Mrs. Wen who came with Gu Yin.

    Gu Yin went to find the glutinous rice flour in the kitchen, but the old man still didn't look at him at all, just followed Gu Yin.

    Master Xu thought to himself: The old man has been stalking the kitchen, so this is nothing! This is the old man who was the teacher of the late emperor and the important minister of the three dynasties! I heard that the emperor was half short when he stared at him in front of him. Isn't it embarrassing to be stared at by someone like him? !

    Gu Yin found glutinous rice flour and asked Chef Xu for dried fruit. Ordinary people don't always have such things as dried fruit, but big families like Wen's do have them. Plus, it's the Chinese New Year, so these things are very good for entertaining guests.

    Walnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, and sesame should be available. Gu Yin also found a box of raisins and started to make them.

    She first mixed glutinous rice flour and ordinary rice flour in proportion, then added water and made a dough, wrapped it in gauze, and steamed it in a steamer.

    Then for more than a quarter of an hour while steaming the glutinous rice, Gu Yin smashed the walnuts with the back of the knife, smashed out the walnut kernels, then used hot water to remove the clothes, put them in the oil pan to fry the crispy, and then put the sesame seeds in the pot Saute until fragrant.

    Chop pine nuts and peanuts, and mix with chopped walnuts, black sesame seeds, and raisins to form the filling.

      A small cake in the shape of a flower.

    The prepared mincemeat cake was presented to Mrs. Wen.

    Mr. Wen was surprised to see a set of movements that could no longer be proficient. After tasting it, she was even more shocked: "It is soft and delicious, waxy but not sticky. The aroma of various dried fruits is fragrant. Influenced by each other, but completely natural!"

    Gu Yin also tasted a piece, "It's really good. Thanks to the clear description of the old man's recipe, and this mincemeat cake is not complicated. When I first made it, I was still thinking, since This mincemeat can be made into honey cake, and it would be good to make mincemeat muffin too.”

    Mr. Wen stood up again and said no, come with me again.

    Gu Yin followed him to the study again, and Mrs. Wen looked up the food list next to her, and ordered three kinds of milk and milk tuckahoe cake, crystal fresh milk jelly, and lotus seed paste.

    These pastry steps are more complicated and take a long time, and the old man did not follow.

    When Gu Yin returned to the big kitchen, she saw Chef Xu staring at the honey cake in a trance, wanting to eat but not daring to eat it.

    Gu Yin couldn't help bending her lips and said: "Just now, I just tried it, and the old man has already used it, so let me do it. The rest is also put aside, Master Xu can Can't you help me taste it?"

    Master Xu reached out his hand when he heard the words, first ate two pieces by himself, and then asked the apprentices to divide the rest.

    After tasting it, Master Xu sighed: "How can the little master make ramen noodles and wide noodles? Although these two are noodles, their methods and tastes are completely different. There are two places to eat. I still make this pastry now. I should eat this pastry from the Jiangnan side? I didn’t expect the little master to have so many at such a young age.”

    In this era of underdeveloped information and communication, it is very important to be able to master a local cuisine, and it is almost impossible to cook all the dishes.

    "No, this pastry is the food list that the old man showed me. I made it according to the current, and I have never done it before."

    Master Xu was stunned and said after a while: "According to the food list... make it now?"

    Gu Yin is already making the remaining three cakes, but it is not bad for someone to say something to relieve the boredom, so she first repeated the sentence on the food list, and said: "It sounds very simple. no?"

     Chef Xu said: "Simple is simple, but if I saw these words for the first time, I might not be able to think of what to do."

    "Steam glutinous rice flour for more than a quarter of an hour on medium heat to make a snack, right?"

    "Yes!"

    "Walnuts have to be undressed, sesame seeds have to be fried until fragrant, after frying, they are mixed with crushed peanuts and pine nuts. Is it the filling?"

    "Yes!"

    "It's not honey and sugar, and you can't put orange diced, then put less sugar and use raisins instead, right?"

    "Yes!"

    Gu Yin tilted her head and said, "If you have the skin and the filling, put them together and knead them together, and press the mold to make it? Don't you know that too? "

    Yeah...what a fart! In this way, all cooks in the world can be master chefs as long as they can read and find two food lists!

    Master Xu couldn't come back to his senses for a long time. He looked at Gu Yin's side and asked a question, and he also helped out.

    The steps of the three dim sum dishes are a little tedious, and I was busy until lunch time, and I made them one by one.

    Gu Yincheng came to Mrs. Wen. After tasting it this time, Mrs. Wen had to believe that there is such a person in this world - you can give her twenty or thirty words of methods and ingredients, and she will be able to Make something close to it!

    The two ate it separately. Gu Yin’s tongue was more sloppy than the old man. After eating, she reflected: “This fresh milk jelly has a milky smell, try putting more tea next time?”

    The old man nodded casually, his mind was actually not on eating.

    He didn't sleep after lunch, but left Gu Yin in the study to teach her to read.

    Gu Yin was stunned, and Mrs. Wen plausibly said, "You are talented and smart, and it would be a pity to only study cooking skills! Come, take a look at this "Analects of Confucius"."

    After Gu Yin repeatedly said "I can't, I really can't", Mrs. Wen forced her to read the book for half the afternoon.

    When Gu Yin went to school in her last life, her Chinese grades were average and low. Although she could barely understand traditional Chinese characters, this book is still vertical from right to left, and there is no sentence to read!

    It was a lot of work to read, and it made her draw inferences from other facts, only if she could figure it out!

    Of course, thanks to the nine-year compulsory education, Gu Yin still has some understanding of the Analects of Confucius, but this understanding is naturally nothing in front of an old scholar like Mrs. Wen.

    In the end, both of them were sweating. Gu Yin read the vertical version of the book, and Mrs. Wen was helpless—how can someone know a little about cooking, and learn without a teacher? The Four Books and Five Classics and the Right Path are like two fools?

    At dusk, Mrs. Wen was too tired to take care of Gu Yin, so she let her leave work early, and asked her to put the remaining pastries in a food box and let her take it back.

    Gu Yin carried the food box and returned to Zhenyi Alley in a vain step. Wang didn't expect her to come back at this moment and was collecting clothes in the yard.

    Seeing her look of collapse, Wang put her clothes back on the shelf, took her food box with one hand, and led her into the main room with the other.

    She went to the kitchen and poured hot water out, and said distressedly: "I said how to pay ten taels of wages, daring is a tiring job! Look at your pale face, is it exhausted? already?"

    Gu Yin drank a bowl of hot water, pinched the aching eyebrows, and said, "Actually, it's not tired, it was quite relaxed at first."

    She always loves to study recipes, and she has never seen the food list given by the old man, and it is very fresh. Moreover, only four cakes were made in one morning. While waiting for the cakes to come out, Chef Xu gave her his chair. It's easier than making hundreds of buns at home when doing business.

    "You can't look like this without being tired?"

    I couldn't explain this in a few words. Gu Yin glanced at the house, but she didn't see the child, and hurriedly asked the Wang family: "What about the child? Didn't you make trouble during the day?"

    Wang waved his hand and said no, "It's good to take the child!"

    While talking, Wu An came home with the child.

    The child put on the cotton robe that Wang sewed for her earlier, and put on the small cotton shoes sent by Aunt Ge. Although she looked thin and small, she was full of energy and a face full of energy. is laughing.

    Wu An didn't look so good, her face was flushed, panting and sweating profusely, as if she had just run 800 meters.

    This child has a quiet personality, Gu Yin has never seen him play in such an embarrassed state, and laughed: "How can you sweat so much in such a cold weather? cold."

    When the child sees her, he will jump on her, and when he moves, Xiao Wuan also moves.

    Gu Yin then noticed that the hands of the two little guys were tied together by a half-meter-long rope.

    She finally understood what Wang meant when she said "children are easy to take care of", because she wasn't taking care of them at all, it was Wu An taking care of them!

    Wang was seen by Gu Yin with a guilty conscience, and explained: "He woke up in the morning and didn't see you, so he made a fuss, I explained to him for a while as you said, although he didn't go around anymore I'm looking for you, but I just want to go out. I don't dare to let him go out alone, and I can't keep him locked up. It happened that Wu An told me that last night you tied your hand with the cub's hand, and I had Following every example, I found a rope and tied them together."

    Yes, the source of the co-authorship is still Gu Yin herself.

    Speaking of which, Mrs. Wang pulled his son to him again, wiped his sweat and said, "Didn't you take him with you? Where did you go crazy?"

    Xiao Wu'an was almost out of breath, he held the water bowl on the table on his feet and drank a large gulp of water before he said: "I have been to many places, the wharf, the market , the big restaurant... I have visited the whole town. Fortunately, fortunately, I told him that my sister-in-law was going home in the dark, and he finally agreed to come back with me. "

    Wang smacked her tongue, "This little brat is too good at running. Don't complain about Wu An, what's wrong with running two steps? Being sick, being more active is good for you."

    Although Xiao Wuan was tired, she was actually quite happy.

    In the past, although there were mothers and sisters-in-law in the family, they all had their own affairs. He helped with the housework since he was a child and rarely went out to play. Also because he is thinner than the average person and can't climb trees to dig out eggs, other children in the village don't like to play with him.

    But today this new kid took him with him, and he realized that it was such a joy to have someone to play with. They went to the pier to chase birds, went to the market to catch the market, and were still in the restaurant Sitting in a small shack in the back alley...all in all, a very happy day.

    Gu Yin untied the rope for them, and opened the food box to let them eat cakes.

    Xiao Wu'an consciously took the child's hand and took him to wash his hands by the sink in the kitchen.

    The child is still a little afraid of the Wang family, but maybe because he has been with Xiao Wuan for an afternoon, he has eaten lard from his hands before, and he has become close to him.

    Two little people sat on a bench, shoulder to shoulder, each holding a small snack and eating contentedly.

    Gu Yin and Mrs. Wang saw each other, and they couldn't help but smile and bend their eyes.

    It wasn't long before the dinner time came. The two children couldn't eat enough cakes, and Gu Yin had no appetite, so Mrs Wang cooked two bowls of plain noodles, one for Gu Yin and one for each. , is eaten.

    After nightfall, Mr. Wang boiled a pot of hot water and bathed the two children who were sweating and rubbing putty.

    Xiao Wu'an blushed and held up his pants. His mother was not allowed to help with the washing. Children also followed suit, covering their pants tightly.

    Wang shi was just outside the door, listening to them shouting and laughing and splashing water inside, laughing and cursing "two little bastards", then turned to look for Gu Yin.

    Gu Yin had already washed and was soaking her feet in the house, so sleepy that her eyelids could not be opened.

    "Tell me when you're tired, don't hide it." Mrs. Wang was rarely so serious, "What kind of work can make you so tired? Could it be that you do it alone? Meals for hundreds of people?"

    Seeing that she was worried, Gu Yin didn't hide it, first said that the employer who hired her was Mrs. Wen, and then said: "The old lady is very kind and doesn't care about what's ahead at all. Let me eat according to the food list. I only made four snacks in the morning. The original Master Xu in the kitchen was also kind and gave me the back chair. I really don’t get tired in the morning, but in the afternoon…”

    "What's the afternoon?"

    Gu Yin recalled the fear of being dominated by vertical traditional characters again, and said with a headache: "In the afternoon, the old lady insisted that I was smart and asked me to study. My dear, reading a book for half an afternoon is more than two hundred buns. Tired!"

    After listening to the ins and outs, Mrs Wang loosened his face and said with a smile, "Qingyi said the same thing back then, I would rather farm and hunt than study. Expensive, it is too wasteful for him to study alone, let him teach you at home when he is out of school, and you were like this when the sky fell."

    Gu Yin pinched her eyebrows helplessly.

    Seeing that she was really uncomfortable, Mrs Wang tried again: "Then it's still..."

    While talking, the two children came in with water vapor after taking a bath.

      He looked at Gu Yin anxiously and asked her to go to bed quickly.

    Xiao Wu'an stood in front of the bed and looked at the child, then at Gu Yin, and wrinkled his fingers: "I..."

    Wang shi picked him up and said, "What are you doing today! I went to the urinal last night, and before dawn, let your sister-in-law get up and wash the bedding. You go back to my room and sleep. ."

    Wang also thinks about it, the mattress is not easy to dry in this weather.

    "You two are not allowed to drink water before going to bed, go out to urinate again."

    Xiao Wuan laughed and waved at the child. The two went to the thatched hut together and lay down again.

    And without waiting for Wang to speak, Xiao Wuan urged her to take out the rope and tied their hands together.

    After a while, they both started snoring.

    Mr. Wang looked funny, and put the ointment on the child again, but she didn't forget half of what she said before, and said in a low voice: "It doesn't matter whether it is tired of cooking or tired of reading, If we're really tired, we won't do it. There are other chores for the Chinese New Year. When you take care of the two children at home, I can make some money by going out to sew and wash."

    Gu Yin nodded and said that she was relieved, and added: "Mr. Wen knows that I am not a student, and tomorrow will definitely not be like today. This work is very worry-free."

      Come on, do something today that is not in the book and I haven't heard of it!"